Hatred and History
by Josiecat
Summary: Riff Raff reflects on his own history, and that of the person he hates most.
1. The Present Tainted By The Past

The standard disclaimer:  I do not own Riff Raff.  I do not own Frank.  I do not own Magenta.  Shocking revelation, I know.  As for an author's note…this is my first attempt at writing a story based on Riff Raff's thoughts, opinions and memories.  He's not my favorite character, nor is he the character I'm the most comfortable writing, so I'm not sure how well it worked.  There are many others posting here who are undoubtedly much better equipped than I to paint a word picture of Riff.  It was, however, fun to give it a shot!  Incidentally, I borrowed a plot point from an earlier story of mine, "A Rocky Road".  However, this story is in no way related to ARR.

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_I _**hate **_him!_

Riff Raff stopped dead, more than a bit frightened at the vehemence of his thought.  He looked down at the board he was hammering, and saw his actions had mirrored his mood…he'd swung the hammer so hard it actually made a hole in the board.  He wiped his hand across his sweaty forehead and sighed.  He'd better take a break before he completely demolished the new table he was _supposed _to be building.

He couldn't help but shake his head.  If the average citizen of Transylvania ever discovered his opinion of Frank N. Furter – renowned scientist and Crown Prince – Riff's life would be a living hell.  The Transylvanian people worshipped Frank, treating him like those on Earth did their rock stars and movie idols.  And why not?  If all Riff Raff knew of Frank was what the public saw, he'd undoubtedly feel the same way.  Frank was beautiful, charismatic and incredibly charming.  When he did personal appearances, he managed to make each person he met feel like the most important being in the universe.  Everyone who met him invariably came away raving about how, despite his position, he was so friendly and approachable.  It was just _wonderful _how much he cared for his people.  

Oh, if they only knew what an actor he really was.  If there was one thing Frank loathed, it was being forced to go out and interact with the "common folk."  He knew it was necessary, but considered it an enormous waste of his valuable time – time that could be much better spent in his laboratory, or in his luxurious bedroom having sex with a suitably gorgeous young man or woman from his exalted social circle.  All those ordinary teenage Transylvanians with what Earthlings might call "Cinderella fantasies" of capturing their Prince's heart – and the body that went with it - had no idea how completely unimportant he considered them to be.

Riff Raff settled down on a nearby bench, lost in thought.  Incredibly enough, Frank hadn't always been that way.  Riff thought back to their childhoods.  Appearances to the contrary, Riff Raff was only three years older than Frank; Magenta was Frank's age.  Riff Raff and Magenta's parents were servants to the Royal Family, as their families had been for generations before.  Therefore, they grew up in the Palace – well separated from the members of the Royal Family, certainly, but still within the same walls.

Although the King and Queen were hardly known for their benevolence, they did provide for the education of the children of their servants.  Of course, that was more for the benefit of the Royal Family than the children themselves; many of those children would, like their parents, grow up to serve the Royals.  If there was one thing the members of the Royal Family did not want, it was a bunch of uneducated louts serving them. 

When Frank was a small child, too young to truly understand his position, he would periodically escape his army of nannies and tutors to go in search of other children to play with.  He quickly learned the best place to go was the huge room that served as a school for the servants' children.  They, of course, would love it when he appeared – both because it would mean studies would stop for an hour or two while they entertained him, and because he was a genuinely enjoyable playmate.  Intelligent, funny and endlessly inventive, he managed to create flights of fancy that drew them all in to the worlds he conjured.

For some reason, Frank was particularly fascinated with Riff Raff, apparently seeing him as a surrogate big brother.  Sometimes, when everyone else was playing, Frank would pull Riff Raff aside to talk.  Frank, an only child, lived in a world of adults.  He would speak of his loneliness; of his desire for a brother or sister with whom to share his gilded existence.  Riff Raff, thinking of his beloved sister, would actually feel sorry for the young Prince.  The adult Riff Raff laughed ruefully, and more than a bit bitterly, at that memory.  He had actually felt sorry for _Frank?  _How…_presumptuous _of him.

The distance that developed between Frank and his erstwhile playmates was, of course, inevitable.  By the time he was eleven years old, his visits to the classroom ceased.  However, despite appearances, his interactions with the servants' children did not stop completely…


	2. A Walk on the Wild Side

Author's note:  Okay, this story is from Riff's perspective, but yes, Frank figures prominently.  Sorry, guys…I'm congenitally incapable of writing a story in which Frank _doesn't _figure prominently.  So sue me. g

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Riff Raff remembered the pomp and circumstance surrounding Frank's fifteenth birthday.  In accordance with royal tradition, that was the day in which he was to lose his virginity.  Riff, however, knew in Frank's case, that was absolute hogwash – that Frank had actually lost his virginity at least a year earlier.  _How _Riff Raff knew that went a long way toward explaining why he came to put a hole in that defenseless piece of wood.

The memory was as vivid as that of today's breakfast.  One evening, when Riff Raff was seventeen years old and Magenta fourteen, they and their parents had been relaxing in their small apartment in the servants' quarters when suddenly there was a knock at the door.  Riff Raff answered it, and, to his shock, saw Frank standing before him.

It was immediately obvious that during the three years or so since Riff Raff had last seen him, Frank had come to a full understanding of the power and privileges of his title.  There was no sign of the sweet, slightly vulnerable child he had been; he was looking at Riff Raff now with the kind of effortless confidence that can only come through an innate sense of unassailable superiority.  There was something else about him, something Riff Raff couldn't quite identify, that made him seem more mature than his years.  For some reason, it made Riff Raff uneasy.     

"Hello, Riff Raff.  May I speak with your parents?"  

Riff Raff stood gaping at him for a moment, then managed to collect his wits.  "Why, yes, of course, Your Highness."  He stepped aside to allow Frank to enter.

Riff Raff and Magenta's parents nervously approached Frank.  Their father asked, "How may we serve you, Your Highness?  I do hope nothing is wrong."

Frank smiled coolly.  "No, nothing is wrong.  I was simply wondering if Magenta could accompany me on a walk this evening.  The weather is lovely, and it's _such _a bore to walk by oneself."

Their parents practically fell all over themselves in their eagerness to accommodate the Prince's request.  Their mother replied, "But of course, Your Highness.  I'm sure Magenta would be delighted to accompany you."

Riff Raff looked over at Magenta.  The glow in her cheeks and the sparkle in her eyes not only made her look even more beautiful than usual, they served to confirm the truth of her mother's words.

After Frank and Magenta left, Riff Raff huddled on the sofa in a state of complete misery.  He struggled to figure out why he was so upset.  Why should it bother him if Magenta went for a walk with Frank?  Shouldn't he be happy that apparently Frank thought highly enough of his sister to want to spend time with her?  

As the minutes went by, Riff Raff 's jealousy increased by leaps and bounds.  Wait a minute…_jealousy??_  This was his _sister _he was thinking of.  Why was he jealous that she was with Frank?

The truth, long suppressed, finally burst forth.  He was in love with Magenta.  Yes, _in love _with her.  Certainly he'd always known he loved her, but this was different.  He realized when he looked at Magenta, he didn't see a little sister.  He saw a lovely mane of long red curls; he saw sensuous, ruby-red lips; he saw a willowy, ripening body…he saw, in sum, an irresistibly sexy young woman.  He longed to kiss those lips.  He longed to run his fingers through that hair.  He longed to….

**_NO!!  _**_I can't think of her that way!  _It was, however, no use.  He wanted his sister, and he _didn't _want her to be alone with Frank.  

He tried to tell himself he was being ridiculous.  They were only fourteen years old.  What could they possibly be doing?  That comforting thought lasted less than a minute.  He then remembered reading that, due to rapid physical maturation and Transylvania's sexually obsessed culture, well over half of its young people lost their virginity beforeage thirteen.  Riff Raff, unfortunately a "late bloomer," did not fit into that group.  However, as he thought about the conversations among his peers, he realized that statistic was right on the mark.  Although he knew Magenta (who was definitely _not _a late bloomer) was still a virgin, he also knew she was anxious to have sex…she'd told him as much.  And, royal tradition or not, Frank himself didn't seem particularly innocent.  _That _was what had made Riff Raff uneasy about Frank.  It was clear that boy – no, young man - was no virgin.

He needed to rescue Magenta – from Frank, and from herself.  All he had to do was figure out a way to get out of the apartment without arousing his parents' suspicions.

His agitation didn't help his thought processes, but after a couple of minutes he came up with what seemed like a plausible request.  "May I go to the classroom?  I need to look up something for a term paper that's due next week."

His father looked up from his book.  "Of course.  Please try not to be too late, however.  It's difficult enough to get you out of bed in the mornings."

"Yes, sir."  Taking care not to appear too anxious, he grabbed a notebook and left the apartment.

As soon as he'd gotten to the end of the hallway, all attempts at the appearance of nonchalance vanished.  He took off at a dead run to the nearest exit, trying to figure out where Frank and Magenta might have gone.  He started walking rapidly around the grounds, straining to hear any sound that might guide him to the two of them.

After what felt like endless hours, but was actually more like ten minutes, he heard what sounded like a gasp.  It was quickly followed by a low moan.  He tiptoed toward the sound, until he came upon a small clearing.  Peeking through the blanket of trees, he witnessed the most horrifying scene that had ever confronted him during his seventeen years on the planet…

…the Prince, and Riff Raff's previously virginal sister, barely fourteen years old, engaging in some very adult-looking sex on a blanket spread over the soft, grassy ground. 


	3. Lust, Transylvanian Style

Riff Raff's first thought, once his brain started working again, was that Frank must have forced himself on her.  It was up to him to save his sister from a brutal assault!

However, his eyes again took over where his brain left off.  Observing them, he had to admit Magenta was an active and highly enthusiastic participant in the events at hand.  Riff Raff didn't know how it began, but at this point it was clearly consensual.

Consensual or not, he still wanted to rush in and pull Frank away from her; the urge to make Frank stop doing exactly what Riff Raff himself hungered to do was almost too powerful to overcome.  Fortunately, a saner voice in the back of his head stopped him.  Not only would Magenta be upset, but Frank would certainly be furious.  That was something nobody in his family could afford.

With no small amount of pain and frustration, Riff Raff finally concluded there was nothing he could do.  After spending over a half hour wandering aimlessly around the palace grounds in an attempt to gain some sort of control over his emotions, he made his numb way back to the apartment, hoping his parents would be in bed.  

When he opened the door, he saw the gods had decided to take pity on him; the room was dark and empty.  He settled down in an armchair, waiting for Magenta to return.

It was almost two hours later when the door opened and Magenta walked in, looking flushed but otherwise perfectly normal.  

Riff Raff wanted to confront her with what he'd seen, but he just couldn't do it.  Finally, he asked, "How was your walk?"  He and Magenta had never kept secrets from each other; he wanted to see if she'd confide in him about her liaison with Frank.

Her response came in the same calm, unnaturally mature tone she always used.  "It was fine.  The Prince showed me some of his favorite places around the grounds."

_No, he showed you his favorite place **on **the ground.  _Riff Raff was devastated.  She wasn't going to tell him.  She lost her virginity, to the Prince, no less, and she was keeping it from him.  How could she?  Of course she didn't know about his feelings for her, but still…they'd always been best friends and confidants.  They'd talked about everything, including sex, with each other.  Her silence wounded him almost as much as the event itself.

Riff Raff was awake all night.  By the next morning, he decided he had to talk to Frank.  He had no idea what he'd say when he did it…but he had to do it anyway.

His only opportunity would present itself during the lunch break, when the students were allowed to go home for their meal.  Riff Raff told Magenta he wasn't hungry, and was going to find a spot outside to do some studying.  Once she took off for their apartment, he slipped off down the corridor toward the library where he knew Frank would be doing research.  Although technically Riff Raff wasn't allowed in that room, he knew there would be no security preventing him from entering.

He walked in and saw Frank poring over a thick textbook.  Clearing his throat, he said, "Excuse me, Your Highness."

Frank looked up at him, surprised by the interruption.  "What are you doing here, Riff Raff?"

_That's a good question.  _Finally, Riff Raff said, "Your Highness…I saw you and my sister last night.  You…weren't walking at the time."

Frank smiled condescendingly.  "Well, walking can get _so _exhausting.  One needs to take a break now and then."

Riff Raff wasn't amused.  "If you don't mind my saying so, Your Highness, what you were doing looked like it took considerably more energy than walking."

Frank was no longer amused, either.  He couldn't believe Riff Raff was daring to challenge him this way.  "Yes.  What of it?"

Riff Raff stared at him resentfully.  "I thought you were supposed to remain a virgin until your fifteenth birthday."

Frank raised an eyebrow at the impertinence of the comment, but at first said nothing.  When he did deign to answer, his response made Riff Raff wish with all his heart he'd stayed silent.

"Riff Raff, not that it's any of your concern, but it doesn't _count _if I have sex with a servant."

Riff Raff's mouth hung open.  Frank had taken his most beautiful sister's virginity, and it didn't _count???_  She gave a precious gift to someone who couldn't begin to value it.  He was speechless with rage.  It should have been _him.  _Magenta's first time should have been with the one who loved her beyond life itself, not a person who could love nobody or nothing except himself.

When he finally regained his power of speech, he coldly asked, "Is my sister aware that she doesn't _count?_"

Frank rolled his eyes at the question.  "Magenta was considerably more sophisticated about the protocol of our encounter than you.  She saw it for what it was."

"And what exactly _was_ it?"

"An opportunity to give ourselves over to pleasure.  It meant nothing more to either of us than that.  If you'd care to discuss this matter further, I suggest you do so with your sister, as I have nothing else to say to you.  Now I recommend you leave, before I summon a bodyguard to _make _you leave."


	4. The Straw, and Its Effect On That Poor C...

Author's note:  Thanks for the reviews!  I was particularly interested in reading what people thought of this story, since so many here are major Riff/Magenta fans.  Glad it seems to meet with your approval.

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Of course Riff Raff never discussed it with Magenta.  To this day, she was completely unaware he knew she lost her virginity to Frank.  Before she and Riff Raff first made love, a few months after her experience with Frank, she tried to lead him to believe – without actually saying it – that her "first time" had been with a considerably less intimidating rival, a shy boy in her class who'd had a crush on Magenta since their earliest childhood years.  He pretended to believe her, but her deception stung him to the core – even though it was done with love, and was obviously intended to increase his confidence.  He realized she was afraid he would crumble under the pressure if he knew who his predecessor _really _was.  It was not one of his happier revelations.

The only real consolation he could take was that apparently Frank was telling the truth when he said their encounter meant no more to Magenta than it did to him.  Despite Magenta's self-possession, she could never hide emotional pain from Riff Raff…and none was in evidence.  He didn't understand why she didn't feel the need for her loss of virginity to be an expression of love as well as lust – utterly failing to realize Magenta's pragmatic attitude was much more typically Transylvanian than his own romanticized view – but nonetheless he was almost proud of her ability to use Frank for her own pleasure the same way Frank used her for his.  _Almost._

Magenta may not have suffered any emotional repercussions from her liaison with Frank, but Riff Raff couldn't say the same.  The memory of that night wedged in his mind like a particularly annoying pebble he couldn't remove from his shoe, growing ever more irritating as the years passed.  He couldn't believe it when he and Magenta were assigned to accompany Frank on the mission to Earth.  It was his ultimate nightmare come true.  It had been difficult enough hating Frank at a distance; it was immeasurably worse having to hate him at such close range.

Particularly in the beginning, he kept a close eye on Frank and Magenta, looking for any evidence of new sexual activity between them.  He saw nothing.  Frank concentrated on a seemingly endless succession of Earthling lovers – for research purposes, as he put it – and Magenta continued her relationship with Riff Raff.  Apparently the encounter, for all its apparent passion, didn't make enough of an impact for them to feel any particular compulsion to repeat it. 

Until that very morning.  Riff Raff had walked into the laboratory to make sure everything was in place for Rocky's creation that evening…and there it was, the scene he'd been both expecting and dreading since Magenta first lost her virginity to Frank.  He observed Frank and Magenta entangled on the floor, still dressed but apparently in the throes of passion.  He bolted out of the room, unable to deal with what he'd just seen.

It was at this point he took refuge in his workshop, ostensibly to finish the building of a table, but really just to escape to a place he knew he would be left alone.  What he had witnessed undermined every hard-earned bit of self-esteem he'd managed to acquire over the years.  How many liaisons had there been between Frank and Magenta he just hadn't discovered?  He couldn't imagine how Frank could find the time, between all the Earthlings and his lab work, but Riff couldn't believe he'd managed to stumble on the one and only time they'd been together.

The more he thought, the angrier he got.  Frank must have picked up on Magenta's relationship with Riff Raff, and couldn't stand the thought she'd prefer to be with someone other than him.  After all, what could she say if he _ordered_ her to have sex with him?  She was a mere servant, without recourse.  Magenta couldn't possibly _want_ to be with Frank, especially after she saw how he treated the brother she loved.  Yes, it had to be all Frank's fault.  

Just as he reached the breaking point, it came to him.  It was a notion so perfect, so justifiable, so _right, _that he felt his anguish float away like a helium balloon released into the azure sky.  At last, Frank would pay.  Oh, yes, he'd pay.  Frank may think tonight will be his ultimate triumph.  He has _no_ idea who will be standing triumphant in the end.    

It was a bit ironic, really.  Had Riff Raff stayed just a few seconds longer, or arrived just a wee bit later, the scene would have looked quite different.  He would have seen Frank struggle to his feet, snapping at Magenta to _please _watch where she was going in future.  He would have seen Magenta glare at Frank, daggers in her eyes, as he stalked off.  In short, he would have realized he'd seen the aftermath of an accidental collision, not an erotic interlude. 

However, it was not to be.  In life…and death…timing is everything.


End file.
